Top Chef Seattle has had three weeks of torrid ratings and so the increase of last night’s fourth episode to 0.50 in the 18-49 demo will give Bravo Media and Magical Elves a little to cheer about. Just don’t expect any press releases yet! Overall, this week saw the total audience climb to 1,115,000 viewers and that has pushed the season-to-date average just above the 1m mark; to 1,003,250 viewers per episode. That’s also reduced the prior season deficits to -36.76 for total audience and -43.33% in the 18-49 demo versus Season 9 and -48.44% total and -56.41% in the 18-49 demo versus All StarsSeason 8. Additionally as the season has progressed each week has seen a growth in viewership so perhaps all is not yet lost for Top Chef. Read more

With the worst start for ratings for any of the 10 seasons of Top Chef or for that matter for the four seasons of Top Chef Masters or even when compared with the two seasons of the cancelled Top Chef Desserts, the third episode, which aired on Thanksgiving Eve lent itself too easily to jokes about Turkeys. And what a ratings turkey this season is proving to be.

The fourth episode of last year’s ninth season; Top Chef Texas, aired the night prior to Thanksgiving in 2011, and drew 1,671,000 viewers with 0.70 in the 18-49 demo. At the time that was a season high for total audience numbers but not for those aged 18-49. Last Wednesday, Tom & Emeril managed to cook up just over 1m viewers for the 1st time this season, as 1,045,000 people tuned in, but their 18-49 demo rating held for the third week at 0.40. This, however means their 10th season average stays below 1 million viewers at 966,000 and a rather paltry (poultry?) 0.40 in the 18-49 demo. Read more

Unfortunately, not only wasn’t it any better but when compared like-for-like with the programming for the same week in 2011, total audience levels declined by 18%. In the equivalent week in 2011 Bravo TV aired a total of 8 hours of original programming over four nights, versus last week’s 12 hours over five nights. The additions being; five versus two episodes of Watch What Happens Live, this year two episodes of The Real Housewives of Miami aired, whereas in 2011 no original programming was aired on Thursday, November 17th and the last difference is LOLwork added on Wednesday’s, giving that night 3 hours of first run programming. Read more

After what can only be described as an absolutely disastrous Wednesday last week, particularly for one being conducted during Nielsen’s Fall Sweeps, with LATC scoring 587,000 viewers, Top Chef Seattle 912,000, LOLWork 334,000 and WWHL 271,000, Bravo Media would desperately have been hoping for significantly improved ratings. Andy Cohen tweeted out the night’s schedule to his 920,000 followers (he seemed to forget about LATC) and then @BravoTV retweeted him adding Best. Wednesday. Ever.Read more

And that was the week that was and no doubt Bravo Media will be glad it’s finally over but there are still 11 days to go in Nielsen’s Fall Sweeps. Bravo decided to have a quiet first week of Nielsen’s sweeps and not premiere any new shows and then bet heavily on this week just ended. With two new shows premiering and the return of three others, Bravo Media were wagering on ratings success compressed into the same week as the Presidential election. Back on September 20th, knowing full well a very close election was in the offing, Bravo Media issued a press release announcing this week’s new programming and then backed it up with another press release on October 23rd, heralding what a big week it would be for Bravo Media. But what started on Mount Everest, with the record ratings for Sunday’s 9pm RHoA premiere, ended on the down low Wednesday, with the worst rated episode in Top Chef’s seven year history. Earlier Tuesday, any chance of Thursday’s ratings success was swept aside as RHoM, was wiped from the Thursday’s schedule and pushed to the following Sunday. Read more